Christopher Voss Quotes

I do believe that in order to be a successful negotiator that as a diplomat, you have to be able to put yourself into the other person's shoes. Unless you can understand what is motivating them, you are never going to be able to figure out how to solve a particular problem.

Between an uncontrolled escalation and passivity, there is a demanding road of responsibility that we must follow.

It's much better to have a good agreement than a quick agreement.

The challenge in multi-lateral negotiations is not to lose sight of one's over-arching goal in the midst of the cacophony of opinions at the bargaining table.

Typically to get toward a productive outcome in negotiation you have to make the initial move of genuinely exploring someone's model. If you don't, it is unlikely that they will be willing to explore yours. And if you genuinely explore and understand theirs - without judging it - they will be willing to explore yours. Once they reach that point, they are primed to explore the productive combination of both models and won't be as obsessed about trying to make sure their model prevails.

I can do whatever I want. They will tell me if what I am doing is stupid or a total waste of time. I may tell them that they are wrong, and we will come to an agreement.

It's learning how to negotiate to keep both sides happy - whether it's for a multi-million dollar contract or just which show to watch on TV, that determines the quality and enjoyment of our lives.

If you want to bring an end to long-standing conflict, you have to be prepared to compromise.

My colleagues and I have gone in the footsteps of our predecessors since the very first day we were called by our people to care for their future. We went any place, we looked for any avenue, we made any effort to bring about negotiations between Israel and its neighbors, negotiations without which peace remains an abstract desire.

The capability of negotiating... is something that means you not only have to understand fully what you believe and what your national interests are but in order to be a really good negotiator, you have to try to figure out what the other person on the other side of the table has in mind.

It's better for me to go up against someone's passion with my passion and then clarifying something that he wrote. Then I know how to work around certain things.

I say that to my colleagues, by the way, in the internal Cabinet meetings, I say, 'Look, I want to be very clear about what I want.' I just - I don't want a peace process, I want a peace result.

The legislator learns that when you talk a lot, you get in trouble. You have to listen a lot to make deals.

Personal pique is not a foreign policy.

You cannot just dictate at negotiations. You must also listen.

The politician says: "I will give you what you want." The statesman says: "What you think you want is this. What it is possible for you to get is that. What you really want, therefore, is the following.

No quarrel ought ever be converted into a policy.

If through any misunderstanding or obstinacy on the part of the Fire Keepers, they render a decision at variance with that of the Two Houses, the Two Houses shall reconsider the matter and if their decisions are jointly the same as before, they shall report to the Fire Keepers who are then compelled to confirm their joint decision

Success of negotiations cannot be guaranteed. If there is no attempt, then failure is guaranteed.

Trust-based mediation assumes accumulated and at times intimate knowledge shared by both the mediator and disputants.

If you can’t learn to compromise an issue without compromising yourself then you better not be a legislator and you better not marry.

Negotiation is not trading. Negotiation is creating new and original solutions.

A huge amount of negotiations and diplomacy has nothing to do with bartering or arguing but is just trying to get everyone [doing the negotiating] on the same page. It takes yours, days, even weeks sometimes.

Part of the job of being a producer is the Vulcan mind meld, where you listen not to what they're saying but what they mean.

Disagreement on issues doesn't mean 'dissension.' All it means is that honest men can differ in their approach. You lay out your positions, and president makes a decision.